Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia: 2002 Deluxe Lab-Coat Pocket Edition

Great reference if you are looking for specific information about dosing. May be annoying for since all drugs are listed under their therapeutic category. But also helps you to suggest potential substitution for the same reason.

I've used the pocket pharmacopoeia for many years, and it's the only book I'll buy every year when the new edition comes out. It's amazing how they can stuff so much info into a pocket-sized book. Sure, ePocrates and other handheld databases have more info, but I can usually look up a medicine in the pharmacopoeia faster than it takes to open up a Palm and type in the med name. This and the Sanford guide are the two most important quick reference guides available - I only wish the Sanford guide was as easy to read as the pharmacopoeia.The medications are organized by specialty (e.g. cardiovascular, neurological), but all of them are indexed by both generic and brand names, so I usually turn to the index first. Dosing information, pill size, pregnancy class, and relative cost are all listed concisely. There are also tables scattered throughout the book in appropriate areas, such as topical corticosteroid potencies.

As an internal medicine resident this book is absolutly vital to my life and practice. In nearly three years I have not once gone to work without it in my pocket. The book is small enough to carry anywhere, well organized, full of useful information and contains every drug you will be perscribing on a regular basis. Whether you are a medical student or a resident, you need this book!

A friend and I were talking about this book. "Obviously," he said, "it was written by a clinician." This is extremely high praise. I discovered this book several years ago. Now, I don't go to work without it. I can look up any drug in the world within seconds (the index helpfully tells you whether the listing is at the top, middle or bottom of the page) and find out basically everything I need to know: what class of drug, what it's used for in clinical practice, how it's metabolized, can you give it to pregnant women, can you give it to breastfeeding women, what's the relative cost, what's the usual dosage and route, what's the DEA classification . . . and also read a sentence or two along the lines of "One or two things you should know about this drug:" for example, terazosin: "First dose at bedtime to avoid orthostatic hypotension."To compress the entire PDR into 127 pages that fit into your shirt pocket is a truly impressive work of scholarship. Saunders comes in a close second, and the Washington Manual a distant third. The Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia is, in my opinion, the most useful medical book ever published.

As a resident I have found this book to an invaluable tool for physicians, 3rd and 4th year medical students. It packs an incredible amount of information into such a small package. The book includes every medication, dosage, formulation you'll ever need. It includes a number of obscure drugs as well as off label indications, which come up quite often, not included in epocrates. I had to dig up this classic after being left high and dry by epocrates a number of times. There are a number of charts such as BSA, ACLS, safe drugs during pregnancy that are great as well. Overall this book is definitely worth the pocket space.